Time ripe to zero out LA residential property taxes

Debate over Amendment #6 that voters will weigh in upon this fall illustrates a tax system so riddled with exceptions that the best strategy might be to dispense with property tax on homesteads.

The amendment would build upon the special assessment level now granted constitutionally to individuals 65 or older, as well as to some younger who are disabled or who are widows and widowers of those who once qualified (which includes active duty members of the armed service killed in the line of duty), as long as they remain at that homestead that is not significantly improved and their income doesn’t exceed (starting next year) $150,000. This exemption freezes the assessed value of the property at the last quadrennial round’s amount, almost certainly reducing property taxes that otherwise would be paid.

Each municipality and parish would have a chance to opt into this by popular vote, and if passed all taxing bodies in their jurisdictions would have to abide by the decision. If passed, it would increase the homestead exemption based on age, at the oldest range going far above the current $75,000. School boards in particular have complained that with this they would have no say in what happens to their ability to raise revenues, and it would create confusion and inequity if some municipalities in a district opt in and other out, or the parish does or doesn’t compared to the municipalities within it. For example, while Monroe derives about 8 percent of its total non-business revenues from ad valorem taxation, Monroe City Schools with the same boundaries gets about 16 percent.

Reworking, not money, best for child care policy

Rather than throw more money at a perceived problem, perhaps Louisiana should reconceptualize how it addresses child care.

Money that the country didn’t have was thrown at states, through federal government grants, during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic to give families – read single parents mostly mothers, who comprise the vast bulk of Child Care Assistance Program recipients – more money to pay for child care. The program will subsidize at varying amounts (plus for some a small co-payment) depending on family resources for at least part-time working or training parents with children under age 13 (18 if with disability) and who are citizens or legal residents.

While the leftist agenda of growing government and hoping it sticks lasted well after the pandemic could be used as a justification for it, eventually the bonus money faded away. Regardless, Louisiana chronically has had a waiting list for participation, even as it has chipped in the range of $80 million annually over the last few years (the federal government will provide a match for state spending).

Fully funded ESA program to give LA boost

Real world experience may have mooted the argument against Louisiana implementing fully its GATOR program on cost considerations.

This program provides an education savings account for public schoolchildren of school age (5-21) who have an income at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty limit. It may be spent on tuition or a number of other services or items related to education. Eventually, it will expand first to incorporate families up to the 400 percent level, then finally open to all families regardless of income level.

However, this depends upon legislative appropriation to fund it for all eligible families, which could cost in the $100 million range just to fulfill all requests from the first cohort. It could double that to fulfill the others. Instead, for the past couple of years the Legislature allocated basically enough only to cover participating families in the prior version of the program predicated on allowing escape from failing schools, around $43 million.

Defeat spendthrift Caddo’s sports boondoggle

Overtaxed Caddoans, get set to receive a sales pitch this week about a low-priority sports complex that won’t come close to paying for itself, whether measured tangibly or intangibly.

In three sessions, the parish will present an idea for a complex that will allow for a variety of indoor sports – including pickleball, on which last year it already blew $10 million for a dedicated facility on land owned by the Northwest Louisiana YMCA. Outdoor sports around it also remain a possibility.

Perhaps it could have used that $10 million as it says the parish through debt issuance will cover only $60 million of a projected $70 million cost and apparently has hat in hand for that remainder. As of yet Caddo Parish commissioners haven’t decided where to put it, which they might want to do as voters will decide on whether to grant that debt request Nov. 3.

LA politicians shouldn’t back college subversion

It might make for good politics, but it’s bad law and devalues education for politicians to support efforts, encouraged by Louisiana State University, to allow professional athletes to play their sport at Louisiana institutions of higher learning.

As college football has begun, much attention has focused on the efforts of a number of former college players who participated in National Football League camps who wish to return to playing in college after their attempts to latch onto an NFL team failed. They do so on the basis of a ruling made by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, a group of conferences comprised of different school classified into different competitive categories, at summer’s beginning that allows five years of eligibility for athletes.

The previous rule had allowed only four years, except for extenuating circumstances most often caused by injury that had a student missing much of a season. The new rule gives everybody five years, although additional eligibility could be granted only under uncommon circumstances.

Monroe Council Democrats delay may cost public

Difficult-to-explain political maneuvering by Monroe’s Democrat City Council majority potentially has put the city’s citizens in a tough spot.

Last week, the Council again deferred action on a pair of master service agreements with two established engineering firms. Use of MSAs occurs commonly in local governments, which basically is like a retainer: on short notice, the city could call upon these entities to provide services at agreed-upon rates. For example, if a water or sewer line became inoperative or a sinkhole opened up on a street, a firm could be called quickly to the scene to map out a fix and then a contractor (likely on a different agreement) could implement that as quickly as possible to minimize disruption. Shortly thereafter the Council would pass an ordinance declaring that emergency and appropriating money for the repairs.

Without MSAs, there’s no guarantee that issues could be addressed rapidly and probably would cost more. The city’s current arrangements expired at the end of June, before the Council first took up the ordinances that then were tabled at the majority’s behest. MSAs also allow work to commence on regular non-emergency projects as yet without appropriations.

Changes needed to reduce BC EDD riskiness

All the fancy footwork in the world can’t hide the fact that as Bossier City plunges forward with creation of two new taxing districts it risks picking winners and losers among businesses and invites future elected officials to help themselves to increased tax collections.

This week, the City Council approved the boundaries of these. One gulps in the city’s four casinos while the other basically radiates out from the East Bank District to the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway to the south, to the Red River to the West, up to and over Texas Street especially along the river to the north, and to Hamilton Road and somewhat down Barksdale Boulevard to the railroad tracks the west, excluding some professional and industrial concerns and residences.

The ordinances fixed boundaries, and within these empowered the City Council to levy sales and occupancy taxes, established a management board in common for both headed by the head of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation and eight others members (listing needed qualifications) appointed by the mayor, created a trust fund to hold collections from any avails which would be commingled, and defined uses for those funds in support of transportation, streetscaping, utilities, beautification, security, and for grants to new and existing businesses. Other details would come in the form of a cooperative endeavor agreement which it authorized the mayor to pursue.

Landry dealing overcoming lingering doubts

With a little luck and adroit maneuvering, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry might be covering his Achilles heel for reelection in 2027.

While drawing enthusiastic reviews from his conservative base for his tax-cutting policy, holding the line on state government spending, backing sensible measures addressing social issues, and scoring big on economic development moves, it has been nonplussed over his attitude about coastal restoration lawsuits. Over 40 parish-based suits remain against legacy exploration companies from decades ago, recently removed from state courts to federal ones, with Landry cheering on the plaintiff parishes. Conservatives typically see these as money grabs unjustified under federal law that will enrich trial lawyers, which put most on the political right at odds with him.

However, Landry may be softening his reputation as a trial lawyer supporter on the issue as he has spearheaded recent efforts that effectively take the wind out of the sails of the trial bar. It began when this summer the state concluded an agreement with ExxonMobil to have it aid the state in cleaning up orphan wells – those that a defunct explorer abandoned but not sufficiently capped – offshore, which could cost the state close to three-quarters of a billion dollars. In exchange, several suits against the company will be dropped.

Half-baked BC economic districts need rethinking

It’s possible that a taxing economic development district might be a good thing for the old part of Bossier City. But the plans presented for a pair of these that the City Council will vet this week make that impossible.

The Council will consider in its first September meeting creating two such districts where one takes in most of the commercial establishments in the East Bank District and to the north, east, and south plus the Louisiana Boardwalk, while the four casinos comprise the other. All residences, some businesses and nonprofits, and government buildings are excluded.

Each will have the power to levy up to a two percent sales and/or two percent occupancy tax on businesses included, will go into a trust fund that may have proceeds spent upon transportation, street, right-of-way, and utility infrastructure, grants to new or existing businesses, and security measures, with no more than 30 percent annually spent in any one area, unless three-quarters of the management board (below) votes to override, plus a unanimous vote needed to spend on grants. The City Council will govern each, and, as there will be no residents in them, the Council unilaterally can decide whether to enact taxation and issue debt within them.

Make beneficial changes before adjusting formula

In order actually to solve a problem, you need to understand it, which it isn’t at all clear that Louisiana’s Legislative Higher Education Funding and Formula Task Force does.

As the landscape of higher education continues to change, senators thought it would be a good idea to review the outcomes-based funding formula. It’s a good idea, considering the challenges funding for higher education faces, beginning with the fact of the “demographic cliff” in the country, or that traditional-aged college students will fall in number nationally over the next several years.

At the hearing last week of legislators and higher education officials, other presumed variables were presented that could impact funding: increased workforce development demands, higher price inflation, escalating costs of intercollegiate athletic programs, and reduced federal financial aid. On top of all of this, one official argued that supposedly higher education fell over $800 million annually short of necessary, although it was not explained how that figure was derived but presumably through the lens of the existing formula of 70 percent basic, 30 percent outcomes.